Better the known devil? Some thoughts on the politicisation of education

The 2024 general elections saw many academics on election stages and a visibly larger number in Parliament. Some of them now hold ministerial positions. Others have been appointed to various other institutions. It is unsurprising then that we academics as a class, have been looking at familiar faces in the news. Is this a new turn to a politicised university?

- BY KAUSHALYA PERERA

In 2012-2014 when I interviewed academics for my doctoral research, they referred to the politicication of our sector (education and higher education). The common understanding of this was of an interference from without. Politicians were outsiders, interfering and influencing the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the way universities worked or they were trying to place their stooges in high offices. One of my participants referred to the 1970s as the beginning of this unwarranted politicisation of academia. This has continued to date - we have seen academics being seconded to high positions in state institutions external to the education sector. (A secondment is when a public official or state employee takes leave to assume duties in a different state institution). The provision is present so that academics can provide expertise in a place where it is needed, e.g., when a children's language expert is needed in the Ministry of Health.